Slip having biased front panel



June 6 1967 E. c. CHAMPAGNE ETAL 3,323,139

SLIP HAVING BIASED FRONT PANEL Filed OGC. 19, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent() 3,323,139 SLIP HAVING BIASED FRONT PANEL Emory C. Champagne, Woodbridge, and Thomas J.

McGuire, New Haven, Conn., assignors to The Berger Brothers Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Oct. 19, 1964, Ser. No. 404,717 1 Claim. (Cl. 2--211) This invention relates 'generally to the field of wornans undergarments, and more particularly to an improved half-slip construction incorporating means for permitting limited lateral expansion when the garment is Worn in a sitting position or other position in which certain of the component parts would be normally distorted.

It is among the principal object-s of the present invention to provide an improved slip construction in which provision is incorporated for the elimination of undesirable wrinkling on the front panel thereof when the wearer is in a seated position, which wrinkles will normally be of sufficient size to show through an outer garment.

Another -object of the invention lies in the lprovision of an improved half-slip garment of the class described particularly adapted for wear with relatively tigh-t-tting sheath skirts.

Yet another object of the invention lies in the provision of an improved slip construction in which the front panel thereof is cut on a bias with respect to the rear panel thereof with which it is interconnected, wherein each panel element will lbe capable of limited expansion in a needed direction.

Yet another object of the invention lies in the provision of an improved half-slip construction in which the cost of fabrication may be directly comparable to an existing prior tart garments, thereby permitting consequent wide sale, distribution and use.

A feature of the invention lies in the fact that the inventive construction may employ materials already known and existing in the garment art.

These objects and features, as well as other incidental ends and advantages, will more fully appear in the progress of the following disclosure, and `be pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing, to which reference will he made in the specifi-cation, similar reference characters have been employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIGURE 1 is a front view in elevation of an embodiment of the invention in position upon a wearer.

FIGURE 2 is a rear elevational view thereof.

FIGURE 3 is a view in perspective showing the `appearance of the garment as worn when the wearer is in a seated position.

FIGURE 4 is a view in elevation corresponding to that seen in FIGURE 2, but showing an alternate form of the embodiment FIGURE 5 is a development of a front panel element comprising the embodiment.

FIGURE 6 is a similar development of `a rear panel element.

In accordance with the invention, the garment generally indicated by reference character 10, comp-rises 3,323,139 Patented June 6, 1967 broadly a unitary front panel 11, a unitary back panel 12, an upper elastic binding member 13, and a lower edge trimming member 14.

The unit-ary front panel 11 is bounded by anupper edge 16, which commences at a rst point 17 at the rear of the 'garment (see FIGURE 2) and terminates at a corresponding point 18 which is symmetrically disposed. Extending -downwardly from the point 17 is a left side edge 19, including an upper rectilinear portion 20, and a lower rearwardly curved portion 21 extending to a lowerrnost terminal point 22. The corresponding right side edge 23 commences at the point 18 and eX- tends downwardly to include an upper rectilinear portion 24 and a lower similarly curved portion 25, terminating at a point 25a.

Asbest seen in FIGURE l, the front panel is cut on a bias (in so far as warp land woof are concerned) to include a frontwardly positioned portion 26 and a pair of hip -overlying portions 27 and 228. Arrows 29 and 30 indicate the direction of the warp and woof of the material of the front panel.

The back panel 12 includes a narrow upper edge 33 extending between the .points 17 and 18, as well as a relatively wide lower edge 34 which interconnects with the lower edge 31 of the front .panel 11, as well as vertical edges interconnected with the left and right side edges 19 and 23 of the front panel 11. As best seen in FIGURE 2, the rear panel is cut on the straight with respect to the vertical, the warp land Woof being indicated by -the arrows 35 and 36 respectively.

Referring to FIGURE 3 in the drawing, when the garment is worn, and the wearer is in a seated position, needed stretch across the lap of the wearer is provided by the expansion permitted by the bias cut of the front panel, as indicated by the a-rrows 38, this stretch extending over the hips of the wearer, where the same is 'most needed. This stretch occurs with a minimum of Wrinkling. The back panel having the goods cut on the straight is capable of only limited lflexibility, chieily in the areas to the rear of the hips at the points of interconnection with the front panel. This achieves a flatter effect which is very much desired.

Turning now to the alternate form of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4, parts corresponding to those of the principal form have been designated with similar reference characters with .the additional prefix 1.

The alternate form of the embodiment, generally in dicated Iby reference character 40 differs from the principal embodiment in the provision of a vertical seam 41 `leading to a slit 42 formed with facin-gs 43 and a triangular reinforcement 44 as is well known in the art. This construction permits a degree of additional clearance when walking iu the case of relatively tighter skirts. In this embodiment, the front panel and back panel are equally sized, and interconnected along vertical edges 45 and 46.

We wish it to be understood that we do not consider the invention limited to :the precise details of structure shown and set forth in this specification, for obvious modifications will occur to 4those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains.

We claim:

In a womans undergarment, the improvement cornprising -a front panel and a rear panel interconnected thereto, said front panel having an upper horizontal B edge extending around a major portion of the Waist of a wearer lto overlie and to closely contact the lhip portions thereof, left and right edges converging in a downward direction, and a substantially horizontal bottom edge meeting said left and right edges, said rear panel element having a substantially horizontal upper edge aligned with and of length s-ubstantially smaller than said upper edge of said front panel, a horizontal lower edge of said rear panel and left and right downwardly diverging edges interconnected to the corresponding left and right edges of said front panel, said front panel being eut from material on -a bias with respect to the vertical, said rear panel element being cut from material on the straight with respect to the vertical, the portions of said front panel closely contacting said hip portions of i the wearer being substantially laterally eXpansible whereby said undergarment remains substantially wrinkle free when expanded in the sitting Iposition.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS lORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

H. H. HUNTER, Assistant Examiner. 

